[zorg]

When I went there (w/o a bike ) a couple weeks ago, I saw a lot of beginners (maybe not, but they looked the part) and even young kids on 20" wheel bikes coming down the easy run. How easy is that run? Any steep stuff? I'm thinking about taking my 9yo kid there (with appropriate protection), but I'd like to get some feedback from people who've ridden it.

 

[Kevin G]

Seen several kids there; even a father with his son of about 9 years old - first time ever on a mountain bike - heading down Upper Mineshaft. The green runs/fireroads aren't steep; but also not very fun. Some parts of Upper Mineshaft are very mellow, yet fun for a young beginner - and have the basic elements of DH (turns, some rocks). Then again, I see young teens there who rip it up on the more advanced trails!

 

[bstyle74]

I guess it depends on how experienced your kid is. I've seen pre-teens wheelie up the metal stairs in the village on 40 pound rigs like nothing.

Northstar does a pretty good job of giving its trails a green/blue/black rating. The blues are mostly smooth with some rocks and little jumps, the greens are completely smooth, and the blacks have lots of rocks, jumps, drops, or some combination. If you want a similar rating for local trails, greens would be Coyote Hills, blue would be Tractor (Demo) or Blue Blossom (Skeggs), black would be Sawpit (Demo) or Cinderella (JMP), double black would be Pacifica or Carlmont.

 

[zorg]

I guess it depends on how experienced your kid is. I've seen pre-teens wheelie up the metal stairs in the village on 40 pound rigs like nothing.

Northstar does a pretty good job of giving its trails a green/blue/black rating. The blues are mostly smooth with some rocks and little jumps, the greens are completely smooth, and the blacks have lots of rocks, jumps, drops, or some combination. If you want a similar rating for local trails, greens would be Coyote Hills, blue would be Tractor (Demo) or Blue Blossom (Skeggs), black would be Sawpit (Demo) or Cinderella (JMP), double black would be Pacifica or Carlmont.

Mine is not too technically inclined, but he can ride his brakes on the downhill. I figured that with a full face and some knee guards, he should be good to go.

 

[iaintdumb2]

When I went, there were a lot of very young kids, and also plenty of older people too. The youngest I saw was this little guy on upper or lower mineshaft (blue trail):

It seems like you can make Northstar as hard or as easy as you want. I went for the first time only a few weekends ago with my bf, we have been riding less than a year.. We went on almost all the blues, and ventured onto some blacks like Livewire, Pho Dog, and Speed Control. I didn't think any of that was as steep as say, Cinderella at JMP, so it was really easy to control speed and manuever around rocks and other obstacles. The first black we did was Livewire, we were a little iffy about going down it, until we saw this pair of 10 year olds blast down it... then we went, hah.

Edit: that kid had a full face helmet on with the armor on his arms and legs. Annnd, I don't think any of the trails we rode were steep at all.

 

[Stalk]

I seen this kid. His father rides black Socom and kids bike is Scott Spark fully. If I remember correctly kid is 6 and I seen them coming down Lifewire.

Anyway, like it was said it's purely depend on the kid. I know mine (11) would be comfortable on the blue runs, but he need to work more on his braking and rock droping for the black ones.